Advertising Literacy for Young Audiences in the Digital Age

This book analyzes how children and adolescents aged between 10 and 17 engage with digital advertising and highlights the importance of promoting advertising literacy to help young audiences recognize advertising and distinguish it from other media content in the digital age. As the advertising sector evolves, incorporating new formats like branded content and influencer marketing, the frontiers between commercial content and regular media become blurred, posing a challenge for children and adolescents to discern persuasive intent in advertising and distinguish advertising from other media content. In this context, it is crucial to assess children and adolescents’ preparedness to navigate digital advertising effectively by understanding their level of advertising literacy. With a higher level of advertising literacy, young audiences can evaluate advertisements, considering factors such as product appeal, presentation, and relevance to their experiences, as well as grasp the purpose behind advertising and the techniques employed. This contributed volume brings together empirical studies and literature reviews to present an overview of the current research on advertising literacy among boys and girls aged between 10 and 17 in different countries to help educators, policymakers, advertisers, and society at large collaborate in nurturing responsible, informed, and ethically conscious digital citizens. Advertising Literacy for Young Audiences in the Digital Age: A Critical Attitude to Embedded Formats will be of interest to researchers working with media education, media sociology and childhood and adolescence studies. It will also help educators and policymakers develop better strategies to prepare children and adolescents to navigate digital advertising effectively.